I'm Rajesh. I'm a PSU employee and i have been using the BSNL 500 home plan since last 2.5 years (approx). I had also applied for a 20% discount on usage and rental on my broadband charges according to the BSNL's discount plan. A few months back i came to know that according to rule of bsnl they were supposed to give me discount on Usage & Rental. But in all my bills the discount was made only on Rental(i.e only on Rs. 500). This means that i was getting discount of only Rs 100 whatever may be the bill. Also i was supposed to get the discount from the month of my application of the aforesaid discount. But it took them around 5 months to start giving me discount. The way i see it, BSNL is trying to allure the customers by making lucrative promises and then taking them for a ride and making a fool out of them. If one calculates... it could be possible that BSNL has made CRORES of Rupees just out of this malpractice.

As i knew the rule i decided to file an RTI application, the copy is as follows.
-------
To

The Public Information Officer
BSNL,
(Address of the location of public information officer)

Sub.: Application under RTI Act 2005.

Sir,
Iím a PSU Employee working in MECON Ltd. I had applied for 20% discount in March 2009 on my broadband charges. The rule clearly states that ďthe discount of 20% will be given from the month of application for the discountĒ. But in my case the first discounted bill was of August 2009 & September 2009 and that too only on the monthly rental and not on the usage. In this regard I need following information :

(1.) Please give me one copy of my application which I had given for the aforesaid discount of 20% for PSU employee. My telephone no. is 0651-2444651.
(2.) Provide me the daily progress report of my aforesaid application.
(3.) Provide me the Names, Designation, Phone Number and Address of all the officials to whom that application was forwarded. Please also tell me from which date to which date my application was kept/worked on by the officials involved. Please also tell me what work did they do on my application during the period my application was with them.
(4.) Please provide me with proof, the date on which all involved officers/staff received my application and the date on which the officer dispatched my application.
(5.) According to your rules or the Citizens Charter or any other order, how many days should it take to process and make my application effective. Please provide one copy of that particular page of the document which states that rule.
(6.) Please give me one copy of the document which states the rule about 20% discount on broadband charges to be given to PSU employees.
(7.) The officials involved in processing my application have not adhered to the time period mentioned in the conduct rule to make my application effective. Are those officials guilty of violating the rules and hence guilty of misconduct under their conduct rules? Please provide me one copy of the conduct rule and also specify whether the officers involved have breached the conduct rules or not. If they are guilty, what actions will be taken against the guilty officials, for violating all the above rules and causing mental agony to the public, and by which date.
(8.) The rule for 20% discount clearly states that the discount will be on usage and rental. But in all the bills the discount is made only on the rental and not at all on the usage. Give the reason for such billing. Please give the names, designation and phone numbers of the officers who are responsible for such wrong billing. Do you consider this malpractice, a fraud on part of BSNL. Please specify what actions will be taken on the officials responsible for wrong billing and constituting a fraud.
(9.) The rule for 20% discount on broadband charges for PSU employees clearly states that the discount will be made from the month of application. In my case the first discounted bill that I received was of August and September 2009, although I had applied for the discount in last week of March 20009 or first week of April 2009. So please tell me why is there such a discrepancy in between the rule and the conduct of BSNLís concerned department.
(10.) Please tell the date by which all the persons who are guilty will be prosecuted.
(11.) Since I started getting the discounted bill from August 2009 and that too only on the rental and not on the usage, please tell me the exact date on which I will get the appropriate discounts on all the bill from the month of application to July 2009. Also tell the exact date on which I will get the discounts on the usage that have accrued (from the month of my application for 20% discount on broadband usage and rental for PSU employees) till today.

This copy of my RTI application has been checked by a prominent Journalist of a Daily Newspaper. So it is as compact and effective as i could make it. Now the thing is, BSNL might retaliate (as is the normal custom) by giving me troubles in the name of hugely inflated bills or some other technique. This modus operandi of theirs can be throttled if 1000s' of people file the same/similar RTI application to the public information officer. Then the BSNL officials will be forced not to do any malpractice and they will also be incapable of doing any harm to anyone if lot many people file for the same information.

So i'm requesting all the readers of this forum to let this information flow to as many people as possible and atleast to all PSU employee who r using BSNL's broadband service and please ask them to file an RTI application as above.

BSNL is Committing a fraud and is earning Crores of Rupees just because of our negligence. DONT ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU !! All it takes to stop BSNL from committing this fraud is Rs 10. (That is the amount one needs to file an RTI Application). This is a very small amount. Wouldn't you agree?

In case you need my suggestion or help, let me know at this email id :
raj.bitmesra at gmail.com

Last edited by efree; 17th August 2010 at 01:49 PM.
Reason: Editing the thread's name

Bsnl

hi

hey man you are doing good work.. i didnt even got that discount for whole year... i didnt even received even a penny as a discount. when i asked them about it.. they said me that , that plan is not applicable to you .. as you come in general quota. it is only available to SC/ST and govt. employees..

they cheated me..

Keep us updated about your case.. hopefully many will get inspiration from you will follow you..

,
AT anytime, did you give an application to BSNL CC and get an acknowledgement in your copy ?
For taking up the matter, with higher authorities you need some proof for being denied a facility.
How to believe your statement ?

it is only available to SC/ST and govt. employees..
they cheated me..

Even now you can apply for 20% discount on BB rental available to ALL Central Govt staff/retired staff/ PSU /psu banks employees etc and follow it up.

The following parts of the application are beyond the scope of the RTI Act and hence may not be answered. For the rest, wait for 30 days and if no information is received, file an application with the Appellate Authority.

(7.) ......... If they are guilty, what actions will be taken against the guilty officials, for violating all the above rules and causing mental agony to the public, and by which date.
(8.) .........Do you consider this malpractice, a fraud on part of BSNL. Please specify what actions will be taken on the officials responsible for wrong billing and constituting a fraud.
(9.) ........... So please tell me why is there such a discrepancy in between the rule and the conduct of BSNL’s concerned department.

Every organisation's policy framework allows for punishment in one form or the other for the wrongdoers. Once the person is found guilty, the organisation's rule book always has clauses for the kind of punishment that can be levelled upon the culprit. All i'm trying to do is that i'm asking them to make themselves more responsible by allowing for more transparency and accountability. If an official says that a particular person is guilty, it also becomes their responsibility to make that person accountable.
Talking about transparency without accountability is meaningless.

If everyone says, thinks, and adapts himself/herself to this ideology they will have a reason to feel proud of themselves and then a day will come for our future generations to feel proud of ourselves.

When was the last time you watched any news about RTI.
If you happen to understand the proceedings then you must know that every official is supposed to write the date when he is receiving the application and the date when he is releasing the application from his table; this happens in the form of file notings written on the application/documents itself.

There is much hue and cry about the file notings. As a matter of fact, the officials/people who r apprehensive about the file notings, and that includes some high officals, for eg. Gazetted officers like some ias officers, are hell bent on ammending the RTI ACT itself, and the people who r supporting the rti act with file notings, have on several accounts protested against removing file notings, as this acts like the tooth of the rti act itself. Removing the file notings will be like killing the soul of the law.

So this is totally possible to get the daily progress report of the application.
I hope this answers your doubt.

Reply to hemantaims,

If you are a PSU employee, please do file an RTI application on the above format. If you need my help, feel free to mail at my id(as mentioned in my first post.).This is the only way these officials will understand that they get their salaries because of us, the customers. A business can not run successfully by befooling its customers. Its no wonder that BSNL has for quite some years undergoing HUGE losses.

Please shake yourself and with your little effort you too can participate in the change that you want to see in the society.

Last edited by efree; 26th August 2010 at 12:56 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost